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Synthesis of multi-branched gold nanoparticles by reduction of tetrachloroauric acid with Tris base, and their application to SERS and cellular imaging

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Abstract

We show that tris base (TB), a widely used buffer substance, can act as a reducing agent to synthesize multi-branched gold nanoparticles (mb-AuNPs) from tetrachloroauric acid in a one-step process. The method is simple, fast, and inexpensive and produces mb-AuNPs that are virtually monodisperse, have a size of about 90 nm and typically >6 branches. Their UV-vis absorption peaks can be fine-tuned from the visible to the near-infrared (NIR) region by controlling the concentration of TB. The mb-AuNPs represent an efficient substrate for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), with an enhancement factor of 1.2 × 105. They were applied as substrates for SERS-based imaging of kidney cells.

Multi-branched gold nanoparticles were prepared using tris base as a novel reducing agent that works in the absence of seeds and surfactants. The resulting ss-Au NPs are SERS-active and also were applied to cell imaging.

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Acknowledgement

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support for this research by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (20975042), the Program for Academic Pacesetter of Wuhan (200851430484), Nature Science Foundation key project from Hubei Province of China (2008CDA080), International Science and Technology cooperation and Exchange Foundation (2008DFA40270), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (2009JC005) and Genetically Modified Major Projects (2009ZX08012-015B).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, People’s Republic of China

    Zhihui Luo, Tao Fu, Kun Chen & Heyou Han

  2. Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine, Beijing, 100025, People’s Republic of China

    Mingqiang Zou

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  1. Zhihui Luo
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  2. Tao Fu
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  3. Kun Chen
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Correspondence to Heyou Han or Mingqiang Zou.

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Luo, Z., Fu, T., Chen, K. et al. Synthesis of multi-branched gold nanoparticles by reduction of tetrachloroauric acid with Tris base, and their application to SERS and cellular imaging. Microchim Acta 175, 55–61 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-011-0649-5

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